When my third child was eight months old, I took him along with his two older siblings to do some errands. We weren’t going to be gone long. Yet in a short time, my darling baby managed to blast through all the diapers I had with me as well as through all the outfits I’d stuffed in the diaper bag.
There we were in a store aisle when suddenly this adorable baby was unspeakably befouled. I had no supplies left to diaper or dress him. So I cleaned him up using what seemed like several hundred wipes, then went up to the counter to ask for a shopping bag. I cut leg holes in the bag and put his naked little butt in it. My older kids were scandalized. The baby, however, was thrilled. He wiggled and kicked his legs in the car seat all the way home just to hear his temporary garment crinkle.
When I shared this diaper confession (or diaperless confession) on the Free Range Learning community page people admitted the strange places where they too had been forced to change a diaper. My fellow GeekMoms also had stories to share. So here’s a sample of location-challenging diaper changing places. Please share yours in the comments!
Felicia: Cat exam table at the vet’s.
Lydia: Steps of the Harvard faculty club.
Carrie: On the forest floor when hiking and camping.
Caroline: The park, under the slide.
Betty: On the floor at Hearst Castle.
Misty: Squatting on the Santa Cruz pier with the baby on my knees. The bathroom was too dirty to even step inside.
Brisja: On the top of the most sacred mountain in China.
Mindi: On a rock in Bryce Canyon park.
Liaan: On a mat on the side of a ski slope, sunny day.
Rebecca: Bon Jovi concert.
Mary: On my lap at my daughter’s wedding.
Ariane: On my lap while sitting (fully clothed) on a toilet in the bathroom because there were no changing tables.
Cathe: In the car trunk.
Sarah: On the table of a Tim Hortons just outside of Bangor, Maine. They had a power cut so no lights, AND no changing table in the bathroom. In a booth at a Burger King, because they didn’t have a changing table in the bathroom! In the trunk of my car. This becomes a normal place in the summer. On a big boulder in Acadia National Park. In a Radio Flyer wagon while at a ten-mile yard sale in Northern Maine.
Lisa: Every roadside overlook between here and California one year…. Her first car trip, and it was like clockwork almost on the hour.
Patricia: In a Maya sling on an airline seat back tray, flying from Orlando to Atlanta. Baby did not exit the sling the entire trip, which was a combination of wonderful and strange.
Jackie: On the floor of a hipster Brooklyn restaurant bathroom (Brooklyn doesn’t seem to believe in changing tables). In the patterns section at JoAnn fabrics. On the grass next to Stonehenge. Right on the other side of airport security after her diaper exploded as I carried her through. I tried to be a genius once and change her in her car seat, but she just ended up upside down and super confused.
We were on our way back from Disney World and waiting for our flight. I took my youngest to the bathroom to change his diaper. There was nothing in it so I came back out. Then I took my oldest to the bathroom (they couldn’t decide to go together). Then was my wife’s turn. (She went by herself.. Lucky.)
As she exited, she said that they were boarding our plane. Unfortunately, we were all the way down the terminal. Oh, and my youngest was hiding behind a chair grunting. Perfect timing, right?
We grabbed what we could and ran (me bringing up the rear trying to get my youngest to move even though he had a load in his diaper).
We went to the back of the plane where my wife changed the little guy on the seat. There were quite a few nasty glares in our direction. He was changed and all set up for the flight well before takeoff, though.
Whenever I miss the days of them being little, I remember that experience and am glad they use restrooms now!
In a red telephone box in England on the edge of a wood while out walking with my baby daughter in a sling. There’s a small shelf for the phone directories that was just about big enough.
Today at a Chick Fil A – I covered two seats with a blue disposable pad. My littlest is 6 months so it was a only a 1 min exercise. They told me it was a health code violation after it was done. I do it all the time – the bathrooms are actually too dirty and ill equipped. Anyway – I won’t be doing that again unless I can hide it better!